currently in the forestry field that it is important, too, to do the research that is required in order to get proper answers. Many of these problems are being presented in highly emotional form and many decisions are being pressed upon State legislatures, upon the Congress, on the administrative agencies of State and Federal governments, on private industry in the presence of information vacuums where there ought to be adequate information. Therefore, we press for an increase in the research necessary to provide suitable answers to these kinds of critical questions. The Association of State Institutions that I represent cooperated with the Forest Service in the preparation of a National Research Program for Forestry. We are now, time wise, in the middle of that period, the 10-year period that this program projected and I think if we had been able to get the support projected in that program, far down the road, and having some of the kinds of answers that are needed today, it would have been well, but unfortunately this hasn't been possible and we would urge that, as fast as it can be done, the National Research Program for Forestry be implemented. We cooperate with the Forest Service and its 61 institutions through the cooperative programs funded under the Forest Service budget and also through the program of the Department of Agriculture. As the principal producers of the research people who staff the laboratories of the Forest Service and other Federal agencies, State agencies and private industries in the forestry area, we have a concern for the length of time required to produce the kind of research people who are necessary to solve the problem. Specifically, our budget request supports the present increases asked for in the President's budget. We would like to highlight two items in there. First, the $435,000 item that relates to the forest survey. This is in some sense an unglamorous kind of subject and yet the forest survey is the basic inventory information that has to be provided if we are going to do adequate kinds of forestry research. All forestry research organizations have to depend on this and only the Federal Government, through the Forest Service, is equipped to do the job. Related to this is the request for an increase of $170,000 in the area of forest economics. Here, too, it is essential that we have the basic information, so that we can make judgments concerning compatability and incompatability of forest land uses, and the trade-off between, for example, recreational use and forest products production and so on. We propose, in addition to the increase asked by the President in his budget, an increase of $3 million to be divided up among four major categories where research needs are critical. In the area of pesticides, particularly with reference to the potential for the replacement of hard pesticides, $600,000. In the area of environmental quality, there is an area of extreme pressure in the forest area currently, an increase of $1.2 million. In the field of intensive cultivation of timber-again a field in which we have got to make progress if the land base is going to be reduced$900,000. In the area of fire and water research, $300,000. Thank you very much. Mrs. HANSEN. Thank you very much, Dean Bethel, for an excellent statement. FOREST SERVICE WITNESSES HON. ROBERT L. F. SIKES, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA HON. WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN DORN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA HON. WILLIAM L. HUNGATE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MISSOURI RAY SHIRLEY, CHAIRMAN, NASF LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE, GEORGIA FORESTRY COMMISSION GEORGE DEAN, VIRGINIA STATE FORESTER WILBUR WALKER, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT TO CONGRESSMAN DANIELS OF VIRGINIA W. FRED FLETCHER, CONGRESSMAN ABBITT'S ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT J. RAY DOTSON, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT TO CONGRESSMAN WAMPLER JOHN TILLER, PRESIDENT, NASF, SOUTH CAROLINA STATE FORESTER TOM BORDEN, COLORADO STATE FORESTER PAUL KRAMER, TEXAS STATE FORESTER LESTER MCCLUNG, WEST VIRGINIA STATE FORESTER EDWARD SCHROEDER, OREGON STATE FORESTER ASCAL CAPPS, MISSOURI STATE FORESTER AUSTIN WILKINS, MAINE STATE FORESTER RALPH WINKWORTH, NORTH CAROLINA STATE FORESTER Mrs. HANSEN. We now have the very distinguished Congressmen, Mr. Sikes of Florida, Mr. Dorn of South Carolina, and Mr. Hungate of Missouri. Mr. SIKES. And Mr. Jack Flynt, who is doubling in brass. Madam Chairman, I am not the spokesman of this group, but if I might have a very few moments, I would like to say I like to come before this committee. It is not only a distinguished committee from the standpoint of membership; it is probably the best and most effectively led subcommittee of the great Committee on Appropriations, and certainly it has the most attractive chairman. Mrs. HANSEN. You are just trying to melt my heart for additional funds. Mr. SIKES. Madam Chairman, I am here to support the efforts of Ray Shirley and others in the National Association of State Foresters. My own colleague in the House, and many others who are supporting an increase in funds for forest fire control, is something the committee has already recognized the need for and I hope will again recognize the need for. I am not the spokesman. Are you going to be the spokesman for this group? Mrs. HANSEN. Congressman, it is always a great pleasure to have you appear before the committee because of your active assistance and I am grateful. Mr. SIKES. I believe in standing for what I say to this committee and I can best stand for it by being there with you when you are on the floor. Mr. REIFEL. Madam Chairman, I want to join you, too, in commending the distinguished guest and colleague, Mr. Bob Sikes, for his support of the work of this committee. I would like the witnesses here who are not members of the Congress to know that Congressman Bryan Dorn-another distinguished colleagues of ours-and Bill Hungate, support the actions of this committee on the floor and we deeply appreciate it. We need all the help we can get. We are very grateful. We want you gentlemen to know that these members of the Congress who are here with you today, including those on this committee, are your advocates in every respect. Mr. SIKES. Thank you very much. It is very kind of you. Mrs. HANSEN. We are also very happy to have Congressmen Dorn and Hungate. Mr. HUNGATE. I am pleased to be here with our State forester from Missouri, and with our distinguished colleagues and gentlemen. I am privileged to be before this committee. Our colleague from South Dakota that we all regret will be retiring at the end of this term; we are going to miss him. We also know that he is Sitting Bull's cousin, once removed. Mr. REIFEL. His body was stolen from North Dakota and put down in South Dakota. I refer to him as a cousin once removed. Mr. DORN. Madam Chairman, I just wanted to associate myself with Mr. Sikes. Mrs. HANSEN. You couldn't have a better association. Mr. DORN. And with this group here. Forestry is good business. It is paying the Federal Government 10-fold what we have spent. Mr. FLYNT. Madam Chairman and my colleagues on the committee, I take particular pleasure in again presenting to this committee my lifelong friend, Ray Shirley, who is the Chief Forester of the State of Georgia. He is currently the chairman of the legislative committee of the National Association of State Foresters. I have known and we had a great admiration and respect for Ray Shirley ever since we were at the University of Georgia. He is a fine citizen of our State in many, many ways, not only in the field of forestry but in anything which is for the betterment of our region and our State. I think that, more than any words that I could say, a tribute has been paid to Mr. Shirley by being accompanied by the tremendous group here today, a group large not only in quantity, but in quality. I know about what Ray is going to say and I, for one-and I think that I speak for my colleagues who have joined us here today in coming with Ray-that I wholeheartedly endorse what he has to say and I am grateful to him for coming. He has certainly made me more conscious of the needs for which he is going to express not only his personal support, but the support of the Association of State Foresters. It is with pleasure and pride that I present to you my friend, Ray Shirley of Macon, Ga. Mrs. HANSEN. Mr. Shirley, please insert your statement in the record and summarize it for us. (The statement follows:) My name is Ray Shirley. I am Director of the Georgia Forestry Commission. However, I appear before you as spokesman for the National Association of State Foresters and Chairman of the Legislative Committee. On behalf of all 50 State forestry agencies, we thank you for the opportunity to appear before this distinguished committee to present our common needs on programs vital to State and private forestry. We are particularly concerned about the appropriation item in the administration budget request for U.S. Forest Service Cooperative State and Private Forest Fire Control-Section 2-Clarke-McNary Act of $14,396,000. This is $2 million less than the appropriation which your committee and the Congress approved for fiscal year 1970. We respectfully ask your favorable consideration not only to restore the $2 million reduction, but to increase this item to the maximum $20 million as authorized by Public Law 392 (81st Congress) under section 2 of the Clarke-McNary Act. This requested increase of Federal funds is based on existing conditions common to all States. Some are as follows: 1. Personnel, equipment, operational, and maintenance costs continue to escalate increases are needed in maintaining the same level of services, to say nothing of improvements needed. 2. The majority of the States do not have an adequate forest fire protection program. In addition, there are more than 35 million acres of forest lands without any organized protection. 3. State and private funds available for forest protection have increased from $63,778,950 in 1965 to $84,618,871 in 1969, a 33 percent increase. The Federal appropriation in 1965 was $11,848,002 and in 1969, $14,396,000-an increase of only 22 percent. The total 1969 funds for forest protection were $99,014,871, consisting of State, county and private-$84,618,871; and Federal-$14,396,000; or 85 percent State and 15 percent Federal. The Clarke-McNary CM-2 law was based on a 50-50 sharing arrangement. 4. Almost daily ecologists, preservationists, and conservationists are reminding the public of the many local and national environmental problems. They include forested areas in which they state everyone has an interest. Too, they state that most forest areas should be enjoyed by the masses to some degree. 5. Trees and forests play a primary role in the environment. A tree is an almost perfect ecological system. Trees-a producer of oxygen, one-third of the earth's oxygen comes from trees and other green plants; a purifier of polluted air, trees take in carbon dioxide gas and monoxide gas and give off oxygen, act as a filter for our water supply, and nature's best soil stabilizer and conserver of water, through its network of roots and leaf functions. The hundreds of miles of shelter belt trees planted from Canada to Texas in the 1930's to combat the ruinous dust storm, transformed the Midwest area of the United States, and in about 10 years it again returned to a highly productive area. The soil was stabilized, relative humidity levels raised, rainfall increased, wind reduced, and the bird and wildlife population increased, and the environment was completely changed. 6. Trees are basic to most outdoor recreation. 7. The forests provide cover and food for wildlife and control water temperature for many specie of fish. 8. A burned over forest gives a rapid water runoff, causing flooding, silting, mud slides, and other problems. 9. Forest fire protection is basic to the continued flow of forest raw material for housing needs and the more than 5,000 items made from wood. The great majority of the forest land in the United States is in private ownership or 72 percent; State 6 percent; and Federal 22 percent. Annual timber harvest from private land 75 percent Federal land 25 percent. The Federal Government in its proposed environmental programs has to the best of our knowledge completely omitted forests and forest lands as being important. The forests are basic to many phases of environment. We urge you to correct this omission and assist the States in providing a meaningful forest fire prevention and protection program for all forest lands. A positive approach could be increasing forest protection funds to the full $20 million authorized. Many national and sectional forestry and related organizations are on record supporting this level of funding. Some are: American Forestry Association, American Pulpwood Association, Western Forestry & Conservation Association, Forest Farmers Association, Soil & Water Conservation District Supervisors Association, professional groups, and others.1 We support and urge your approval of other items in the U.S. Forest Service budget for State and private cooperative programs for 1971. Tree planting__. Forest management and processing-- $313, 000 4,950, 000 2, 207, 000 These increases are based on the ever increasing need for more forest resources for the years ahead, and make it imperative that we accelerate programs to encourage increased forest growth and better land use. The tree genetic program is of prime importance in meeting this goal. Some States have going programs on tree genetics; others need assistance and encouragement to begin a basic program. Results already obtained from genetics in some States have increased tree growth 20 to 50 percent above average, plus other superior traits in the trees. Technical forest assistance is needed to advise and assist the more than 4 million owners of small forests in the United States. Only a small percent of these owners receive assistance from any source. However, they account for more than 50 percent of the timber harvested annually in the United States. Forest assistance will encourage owners to adopt production and harvesting methods to meet the present and future wood products for housing and the many other demands for forest products. We support the programs and plans of the U.S. Forest Service that have been proposed to help meet present and future demands for forest products. We request also favorable consideration for the increase in forest research funds to accelerate forest surveys. A forest survey is basic to planning for future timber and other forest needs and changing land use patterns. It provides the forest inventory data needed for formulation of a sound forest policy by State agencies and forest industry. The State forestry agencies do not obtain any Federal funds other than through the U.S. Forest Service. We sincerely appreciate the opportunity to present these requests of States needs before your committee. We earnestly solicit your favorable consideration for funding these items. Mr. SHIRLEY. Thank you very much, gentlemen. I appreciate the fine words you have stated in introducing me. Madam Chairman, it is wonderful to come before your committee again. I want to say before I am seated how much we do deeply appreciate the Congressmen who have come to join us today. Congressman Sikes came of his own volition. I didn't go by his office today, and some of the other Congressmen are here, and I want to express on behalf of every State forester, our deep appreciation for the knowledge and for their interest in conservation of this Nation and particularly in the phase that we so aptly represent, and that is the trees, that we think are very vital to the well being of our country. I would like to introduce now, if I might, some of my colleagues, and some of them have their congressional leaders with them that haven't been introduced and I want to start off by introducing George Dean, the State Forester of Virginia, and he has some people he wants to present. Mr. DEAN. Madam Chairman, on my left here is Wilbur Walker who is administrative assistant to Congressman Daniels of Virginia, and this gentleman over here with the glasses, Mr. Fletcher, Congress 1 We have been notified by the Southern Forest Resource Analysis Committee, directors of The Third Forest movement, that the following organizations whose representatives comprise this committee, fully endorse and support the implementation of the full $20 million authorized funds for forest fire protection: Southern Pine Association, Forest Farmers Association, Southern Hardwood Lumber Manufacturers Association, American Plywood Association, and Southern Forest Institute. |